Evidence of meeting #46 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
No, you just weren't part of.... No, it's got nothing to do with that. You just weren't part of a regional media buy. Did you know that?
As an Individual
If I wasn't regional, as you were saying before, sir, why did you guys get me involved in this?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Well, when you're part of a team, teams help out teammates sometimes. So you may have received some assistance from the central party. All parties help their candidates out, that's all. But you were never part of a regional media buy.
As an Individual
In other words, what you're trying to say is that I was just a pawn and “we'll use you and then when we finish with you, we'll get rid of you”.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
No, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the party sent you some money to help you out, but you never received 10% of the vote so you weren't eligible for a refund, and you were never part of a regional media buy.
But you're angry with us. You're angry with a party that delivered on everything we promised in the last election—every single thing. Check. We had five priorities. You can check them all off and know that you stood for what was right and decent and everything that we promised. And you were never part of this, and these guys—the ladies and gentlemen of the jury across in the kangaroo court—have all convinced you that you were part of something wrong. And that's just completely false.
Conservative
As an Individual
Well, sir, to answer your question, as you said before, if I didn't get 10%, why did Elections Canada send back $8,000 to you guys?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
But how do you know that Elections Canada sent anything back? That's the point.
As an Individual
I don't think Mr. Mayrand, the gentleman who asked me this, felt like asking me, “What did you do with the $8,000?” Somebody here is not telling the truth.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
All I'm saying, sir, is that I believe you're mistaken and I want you to check into it. I'm not coming down on you. I think it's really sad that you've been drawn in here in the middle of August—
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
—because quite frankly, this is not a process that has been authorized by the House. It's been forced upon us by the tyranny of the majority, but that doesn't make it a legitimate process.
But that said, I just want you to go home and check into it, because I believe you're mistaken on these things. That's all.
As an Individual
Young man, I think it's better that you guys do your homework. As I said, if I really wasn't involved, I don't think I'd be here today and I don't think I'd be wasting these people's time, the chair's time—
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
I don't believe you're doing it intentionally, sir. I'm just encouraging you to look into it, that's all. I'm just saying that you were never part of a regional media buy. If you were, we'd know. Elections Canada knows, because we have nothing to hide. We told them it's the same as all the other parties that have done these things.
So what I'm saying to you is that we would know if you were part of a regional media buy. You weren't. We would also know if you got more than 10% of the vote. You didn't. That's all we're saying.
As an Individual
Coming back to my question, why did Elections Canada insist that I got back $8,000?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
I don't know. We have a lot of questions for Elections Canada, sir. I can't answer that for you.
As an Individual
Do you mean to say these are the people you guys hired and you don't know what's going on?
As an Individual
I don't think so, because even the office in Montreal didn't know what was going on between Benoît Larocque and Pierre Coulombe. Those guys didn't know what was going on. Are you giving me the same thing here too?
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
No. All I'm saying to you, sir, is that I believe you were never involved in any of this.
Mr. LeBlanc just took pains to say that, of all the people listed, you weren't one. Why not? It's because you weren't part of it. It's that simple.
Point of order, please. You have to recognize that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Your five minutes are up. I didn't want to interrupt you in the middle of your questioning.
Madam Redman is next on a point of order.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
According to the Elections Canada website, Mr. Martelli got 15.85%--6,830 votes in the 2006 election.